Why Can’t Hollywood Tell America’s Stories?

Our Onscreen Heroes Are White Men. But Most of Us Aren’t.

The 2015 Oscars broadcast will reflect the demographics of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voters—who are overwhelmingly older Anglo men—but it won’t reflect the demographics of the rest of the country. All 20 acting nominees are Anglo, and all the directing and screenwriting nominees are male. The Academy Awards may not tell the whole story, but they certainly indicate that many American stories still aren’t being told onscreen. In advance of the Zócalo/UCLA Bunche Center “Thinking L.A.” event “Why Can’t Hollywood Look Like America?”, we asked media …

The Murder That Made Us Celebrity-Obsessed

In 1922, the Mysterious Death of Director William Desmond Taylor Sparked America's Hunger for Scandal

I was 9 years old when I first learned about the murder of 1920s movie director William Desmond Taylor. Taylor’s killing was one of several scandals—others included the “Fatty” Arbuckle …

The Science Behind Your Kid’s ‘Frozen’ Obsession

Psychologists Explain Why Disney Struck Billion-Dollar Gold with Elsa and ‘Let It Go’

When the animated film Frozen was released in 2014, no one expected it to become a worldwide juggernaut. Frozen, which earned more than $1.2 billion at the box office, is …

My 1930s Education at the Movies

The Golden Age of Hollywood Taught Me About War, Crime, Natural Disasters—and What Was Funny About America

I’d long wanted to see the two movies on the double bill at our neighborhood movie house, the Princess at 61st and Main streets in Los Angeles, that week in …

How Hollywood Saved Wyatt Earp

On-Screen, He Was a Wild West Lawman. In Real Life, Earp Was a Horse Thief with a Gambling Problem.

In May 1883, after an absence of four years, Wyatt Earp returned to Dodge City, Kansas. He had spent most of the intervening years in Tombstone, Arizona, where he had …

Can the State’s New Hollywood Tax Credit Make Us All Media Moguls?

Californians Are Investing Over $1.5 Billion in Film and TV Production. We Deserve the Red-Carpet Treatment.

We’re making major motion pictures, baby!

And TV shows, too! That’s right, my fellow California taxpayers. You and I are now major investors in film and television productions. Our agent—or I …